No hardware / 3D Audio ?

[zeep 3]

I have a 2 speaker setup on my pc. Now in most games i have 3D Audio, that's direct 3d audio or OpenAL etc.. Basically it makes something that is behind you in-game, also sound like it's behind you, even though you have 2 speakers.

I have an Audigy 2 soundcard, it's pretty old yes but it still works fine. Games with fine audio are all modern games such as GTA, COD 4 / 5, Unreal 1,2,3 engine etc.

In ARMA2 the audio is not 3D and i don't see a way to enable it anywhere. Is there a file i can edit to force 3D / hardware audio on?

Thanks

[Steakslim 1]

From what I've read, the audio in ArmA2 is software only. There's no EAX/Hardware acceleration available.

[bangtail 0]

I have a 2 speaker setup on my pc. Now in most games i have 3D Audio, that's direct 3d audio or OpenAL etc.. Basically it makes something that is behind you in-game, also sound like it's behind you, even though you have 2 speakers.

I have an Audigy 2 soundcard, it's pretty old yes but it still works fine. Games with fine audio are all modern games such as GTA, COD 4 / 5, Unreal 1,2,3 engine etc.

In ARMA2 the audio is not 3D and i don't see a way to enable it anywhere. Is there a file i can edit to force 3D / hardware audio on?

Thanks

Unfortunately, there is no EAX/Hardware audio in A2.

Eth

[zeep 3]

That's ok, then it should be using the DirectX 3D sound (D3DS), but it's not! It sounds like normal stereo.. I hope it gets fixed soon! I need locational awareness.

It's strange that a simple run&gun game like COD4 has great 3D sound.. and ARMA doesn't. The sound department, that's where i expect a game like ARMA2 to shine too! ;)

[Dreossk 10]

Yeah, in the HQ when a helo is starting I always hear it to my right, even if I turn around...

[private plowjoy 0]

I have absolutely no idea what you're all talking about.

I have EAX running perfectly in Arma2. I have a 5.1 setup and can hear gunfire, choppers and all sorts of stuff hammering out of the rear, front and centre speakers depending on my view.

In fact, the fly-by of choppers from rear to front is stunning, in the middle of a gunfight.

Check the sig for my hardware/software.

[Steakslim 1]

Yeah, in the HQ when a helo is starting I always hear it to my right, even if I turn around...

I have the same thing when helo's start up. Always messes with me, because I'm always looking for the "other" chopper trying to take off.

[Dreossk 10]

Exact haha! I want to board it so I turn around and run but the sound is still coming from the right so I turn around and look everywhere.

[bangtail 0]

I have absolutely no idea what you're all talking about.

I have EAX running perfectly in Arma2. I have a 5.1 setup and can hear gunfire, choppers and all sorts of stuff hammering out of the rear, front and centre speakers depending on my view.

In fact, the fly-by of choppers from rear to front is stunning, in the middle of a gunfight.

Check the sig for my hardware/software.

No you don't. The sound engine doesnt support EAX mate. It's an entirely software based sound engine that doesn't take advantage of Creative's hardware sound.

Sorry to disappoint you.

Eth

[private plowjoy 0]

No you don't. The sound engine doesnt support EAX mate. It's an entirely software based sound engine that doesn't take advantage of Creative's hardware sound.

Sorry to disappoint you.

Eth

I'm not disappointed because I have sound coming out of 5 speakers when playing Arma2, with perfect positional audio.

So either Arma2 has 5.1 positional audio in software (which I doubt very much) or Arma2 is using EAX on my X-Fi card.

Either way, it's working.

[bangtail 0]

I'm not disappointed because I have sound coming out of 5 speakers when playing Arma2, with perfect positional audio.

So either Arma2 has 5.1 positional audio in software (which I doubt very much) or Arma2 is using EAX on my X-Fi card.

Either way, it's working.

FFS, it doesn't use it. The engine doesn't support it.

5.1 sound is not the same as EAX I'm afraid.

It's unhelpful when people make these claims that are blatantly wrong and ultimately, they only serve to mislead people who come here trying to get information.

[private plowjoy 0]

FFS, it doesn't use it. The engine doesn't support it.

5.1 sound Not equal to EAX I'm afraid.

It's annoying when people make these claims that are blatantly wrong and they only serve to mislead people.

What's the difference?

I mean, forget the technicality of how the sound is generated (I only mentioned EAX because that's how I term 'surround' sound) but if I have a 5.1 speaker setup and I get positional audio out of all my speakers, then thats working isn't it?

Lets not quibble about the finer points of this. People are stating that they do not get positional audio out of Arma2 and that the reason is Arma2 does not support positional audio. If that is true, why do I get positional audio?

Is Arma2 running positional audio in software? Somehow I find that very hard to believe...

[bangtail 0]

What's the difference?

I mean, forget the technicality of how the sound is generated (I only mentioned EAX because that's how I term 'surround' sound) but if I have a 5.1 speaker setup and I get positional audio out of all my speakers, then thats working isn't it?

Lets not quibble about the finer points of this. People are stating that they do not get positional audio out of Arma2 and that the reason is Arma2 does not support positional audio. If that is true, why do I get positional audio?

Is Arma2 running positional audio in software? Somehow I find that very hard to believe...

There is an enormous difference.

Hardware positional audio/EAX 5.0 is vastly superior to anything software. The sound from 5 speakers is not the same as hardware positional audio/EAX in any way shape or form. That's simply the way that Windows is "broadcasting" the audio to the ouput device.

If you want to see the difference, play Bioshock with a decent pair of Sennheisers.

I'm not sure why BIS dumped EAX etc for this simplistic sound engine but since Vista and the introduction of OpenAL, EAX/DS3D games are becoming few and far between.

[private plowjoy 0]

There is an enormous difference.

Hardware positional audio/EAX 5.0 is vastly superior to anything software. The sound from 5 speakers is not the same as hardware positional audio/EAX in any way shape or form. That's simply the way that Windows is "broadcasting" the audio to the ouput device.

If you want to see the difference, play Bioshock with a decent pair of Sennheisers.

I'm not sure why BIS dumped EAX etc for this simplistic sound engine but since Vista and the introduction of OpenAL, EAX/DS3D games are becoming few and far between.

You're arguing to entirely the wrong level. This isn't a discussion about the finer points between positional audio and EAX 5.0. This is a discussion about why Arma2 doesn't have positional audio.

It does have positional audio. How that positional audio is generated is neither here nor there, in context to the question as to why there is no positional audio in Arma2.

The real question is, why do some people not get positional audio if it is indeed software generated by the client and yet some other people like myself do.

And you still haven't answered my question. Is the positional audio in Arma2 generated by the client? Or are you trying to convince me that I am not hearing positional audio at all?

[bangtail 0]

You're arguing to entirely the wrong level. This isn't a discussion about the finer points between positional audio and EAX 5.0. This is a discussion about why Arma2 doesn't have positional audio.

It does have positional audio. How that positional audio is generated is neither here nor there, in context to the question as to why there is no positional audio in Arma2.

The real question is, why do some people not get positional audio if it is indeed software generated by the client and yet some other people like myself do.

And you still haven't answered my question. Is the positional audio in Arma2 generated by the client? Or are you trying to convince me that I am not hearing positional audio at all?

You said you had EAX working, you quite simply don't. Of course the Xaudio2 simulates "positional audio" in software. That's not what you said originally.

Eth

Edited July 22, 2009 by BangTail

[zeep 3]

...People are stating that they do not get positional audio out of Arma2 and that the reason is Arma2 does not support positional audio. If that is true, why do I get positional audio?...

You must be misreading/misunderstanding this thread. I'm not saying that ARMA2 does not support positional audio. I'm simply saying that it currently doesn't work on my 2 speaker setup. Most probably due to a bug or driver issue.

Btw, what is the default sounddriver used by the engine; D3DS or OpenAL ?

Edited July 22, 2009 by zeep

[private plowjoy 0]

You said you had EAX working, you quite simply don't. Of course the Xengine2 simulates "positional audio" in software. That's not what you said originally.

Eth

I thought we'd already established that I use EAX as broad term for my surround sound?

Regards Xengine2, do you have any links that back-up your claim that all Arma2 in-game positional audio is software generated?

And i'll reiterate. If the Arma2 client is generating the positional audio natively, why is there such a disparity between users regards who can and who cannot actually get positional audio to work? I mean there's no drivers involved for one thing, so blaming differing hardware configurations is out of the window isn't it?

---------- Post added at 11:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------

You must be misreading/misunderstanding this thread. I'm not saying that ARMA2 does not support positional audio. I'm simply saying that it currently doesn't work on my 2 speaker setup. Most probably due to a bug or driver issue.

Btw, what is the default sounddriver used by the engine; D3DS or OpenAL ?

Now that is interesting. If it is OpenAL, that could be feeding straight into the Creative ALchemy drivers on the Audigy and X-FI cards....

"The good news is that the Creative ALchemy Project allows you to run your favorite DirectSound3D games on Windows Vista as the developers intended - with full hardware accelerated 3D Audio and EAX support! This is done by translating the legacy DirectSound calls into OpenAL"

Taken from http://connect.creativelabs.com/alchemy/default.aspx

I'd be the first to admit that i'm not particularly up on the finer points of soundcard drivers and standards but this could potentially account for the disparity between Arma2 players who can/cannot get positional audio out of the game, couldn't it?

[bangtail 0]

I thought we'd already established that I use EAX as broad term for my surround sound?

Regards Xengine2, do you have any links that back-up your claim that all Arma2 in-game positional audio is software generated?

And i'll reiterate. If the Arma2 client is generating the positional audio natively, why is there such a disparity between users regards who can and who cannot actually get positional audio to work? I mean there's no drivers involved for one thing, so blaming differing hardware configurations is out of the window isn't it?

---------- Post added at 11:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------

Now that is interesting. If it is OpenAL, that could be feeding straight into the Creative ALchemy drivers on the Audigy and X-FI cards....

"The good news is that the Creative ALchemy Project allows you to run your favorite DirectSound3D games on Windows Vista as the developers intended - with full hardware accelerated 3D Audio and EAX support! This is done by translating the legacy DirectSound calls into OpenAL"

Taken from http://connect.creativelabs.com/alchemy/default.aspx

I'd be the first to admit that i'm not particularly up on the finer points of soundcard drivers and standards but this could potentially account for the disparity between Arma2 players who can/cannot get positional audio out of the game, couldn't it?

No, EAX is not a broad term for your sound card. It refers to a set of "effects" that are processed in hardware IF x game supports them.

It's a well known fact that Xaudio2 is software only. I wouldn't make a claim like that if I didn't know it for a fact.

I believe Xaudio2 uses OpenAL.

Alchemy was created to support old EAX/DS3D etc games (in OpenAL) that are written to support it. If the game doesn't actually support these hardware enhancements, you won't have access to them.

Eth

Edited July 22, 2009 by BangTail

[private plowjoy 0]

No, EAX is not a broad term for your sound card. It refers to a set of "effects" that are processed in hardware IF x game supports them.

It's a well known fact that Xaudio2 is software only. I wouldn't make a claim like that if I didn't know it for a fact.

I believe Xaudio2 uses OpenAL.

Alchemy was created to support old EAX/DS3D etc games (in OpenAL) that are written to support it. If the game doesn't actually support these hardware enhancements, you won't have access to them.

Eth

Ok, forgetting everything else apart from Xaudio2 software generated audio.

Why do some people get positional audio from this on their 5.1/7.1 setups but other people do not?

[bangtail 0]

Ok, forgetting everything else apart from Xaudio2 software generated audio.

Why do some people get positional audio from this on their 5.1/7.1 setups but other people do not?

Could be many things.

You need to make sure that your output is set to 5.1 etc in the Windows sound control panel.

For Creative/Auzentech X-Fi cards, you should also enable Dolby Digital Live for accurate 5.1 decoding on a 5.1 system.

Eth

[private plowjoy 0]

Could be many things.

You need to make sure that your output is set to 5.1 etc in the Windows sound control panel.

For Creative/Auzentech X-Fi cards, you should also enable Dolby Digital Live for accurate 5.1 decoding on a 5.1 system.

Eth

That's a pretty basic requirement, checking that 5.1 is prepped in Windows sound.

We're not talking about 'accurate' we're talking about 'absolute'. Again, not worth discussing the finer points of the differences between positional audio, EAX and DDL-enablement. We're talking about black and white. Yes and no.

There has to be something that's peculiar to the soundcard hardware and supported standards. Bottom line is, I get positional audio in Arma2 with an X-Fi.

I don't really care whether EAX is adding reverb, because i'm in a ravine. I can hear gunshots to my rear left and a lorry approaching from my front right, then pan across centre and fade off front left. For a game like Arma2, that's all that's required.

Having said that, if the positional audio is being software generated i'm very surprised that the cores aren't being hammered. Perhaps this is the reason why some people get poor performance over others? Because CPU time is being dedicated to sound?

[bangtail 0]

That's a pretty basic requirement, checking that 5.1 is prepped in Windows sound.

We're not talking about 'accurate' we're talking about 'absolute'. Again, not worth discussing the finer points of the differences between positional audio, EAX and DDL-enablement. We're talking about black and white. Yes and no.

There has to be something that's peculiar to the soundcard hardware and supported standards. Bottom line is, I get positional audio in Arma2 with an X-Fi.

I don't really care whether EAX is adding reverb, because i'm in a ravine. I can hear gunshots to my rear left and a lorry approaching from my front right, then pan across centre and fade off front left. For a game like Arma2, that's all that's required.

Having said that, if the positional audio is being software generated i'm very surprised that the cores aren't being hammered. Perhaps this is the reason why some people get poor performance over others? Because CPU time is being dedicated to sound?

Yes, it is a basic requirement and one that many people overlook.

Yes, you get "positional" audio through Xaudio2, a software audio engine.

No, EAX is NOT supported as you previously claimed it was and A2's sound is not processed by hardware.

On an older CPU, software processing might have an impact, but on newer CPUs, the hit will be negligible.

Eth

Edited July 22, 2009 by BangTail

[wooly-back-jack 10]

mind me just nudging in on this a sec? I thought Arma2 didn't use OpenAL? I uninstalled it anyway lol

[bangtail 0]

mind me just nudging in on this a sec? I thought Arma2 didn't use OpenAL? I uninstalled it anyway lol

It uses Xaudio2 but OpenAL is the way that Vista/Win7 "talks" to your hardware through DX.

Direct sound was done away with when Vista went live.

*EDIT* You are using XP, so you are still using Direct sound.

Eth

[wooly-back-jack 10]

ah right, so I've no use for OpenAL then